This is first and foremost a study in British History, and it is entirely from an English perspective thus I have decided not to examine Portuguese, Persian, and Dutch sources. The English viewed their world through a biased lens, but their perspective is still important for understanding how the English understood the world around them and how they associated with their countrymen. The selection of manuscripts used in this dissertation primarily consists of the original correspondence between the English merchants who resided in Safavīd Persia and India, and between the English merchants and their superiors in London